| | | | Why Collusion Isn't the Biggest Issue: Bershidsky | | | The speculation over the impact of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's indictment will last for months. But Leonid Bershidsky writes for Bloomberg View that "Special Counsel Robert Mueller has already achieved something significant, if underappreciated so far: He opened a far more promising line of inquiry into the reasons why the U.S. political establishment is broken -- on both the Republican and the Democratic side." "The Manafort case promises to lead a diligent investigator to stashes of dirty post-Soviet money that represent a bigger threat to U.S. democracy than any leaked emails or Russian-bought Facebook ads. It would be naive to imagine that, after working for years for Yanukovych and taking his tainted cash, the consultants didn't bring any of the cynicism and rule-bending prowess to U.S. politics. This is not the kind of baggage one can leave outside the door," Bershidsky writes. "An investigation into the origins of the money that fed this toxic culture, and efforts to recover it and cut off its circulation, would do the U.S. a world of good by helping to clean up both major parties…American voters and the U.S. political elite need to realize where the real 'Russian threat' -- or, more broadly, post-Soviet threat -- lies and start fighting it. It won't be easy. But it'll be more productive than going after Russian propaganda and disinformation." - Russia: We're baffled by all this. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Tuesday that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election, suggesting that the investigation was more about whipping up anti-Russia sentiment, the Washington Post reports.
"'From the outset we have been completely baffled over these baseless, unproven accusations against our country, about alleged attempts to interfere with U.S. elections,' the Post says Peskov told reporters on a conference call. 'We don't want to be any part of this process, and we'd prefer that these proceedings not facilitate the intensification of already rampant Russophobic hysteria.'" "The Russian government can easily say that it did have contact with some members of candidate Trump's foreign policy team, but only in support of future foreign policy planning; if their past statements are any guide, they will label any other analysis as American 'Russophobia' or Cold War-era thinking. They will simply deny any claim that Russia was trying to pass Clinton 'dirt' to the Trump campaign," Hall writes.
"Russians will of course denounce all of this new information as conspiracy theories. The Russian government knows that Americans believe strongly in such Western values as hearing out all sides of an argument, trying to be fair to all sides and telling the truth. Russia takes great advantage of this, and will inevitably try to sow doubt and cast aspersions. We never interfere with the internal affairs of other countries, least of all the United States, Russian officials will say. More fabrication on the part of the U.S. press, unfairly targeting Russia, state-owned media will crow. Great umbrage and offense will be taken by Russian officials, who will continue to demand the respect that a great power deserves. Americans should remember that all of that is also part of the Russians' active measures operation against us, and that there is probably more to come." | | Has Xi Made a Promise He Can't Keep? | | | For all the focus on China's economic rise on the back of the extraordinary growth in its cities, tens of millions in the countryside are being left behind, reports Javier Hernandez for the New York Times. And in vowing to end rural poverty by 2020, President Xi Jinping may have set himself up for failure. The government's plan "targets the more than 43 million people who still live on the equivalent of less than 95 cents a day, the poverty line set by the Chinese government. Five years ago, about 100 million people lived below that line, according to official statistics," Hernandez writes. "Xi's lofty vision clashes with a harsh reality across much of rural China. In many villages, young people have gone, leaving older residents to fend for themselves. Disparities in education, health care and social services remain stark. "Even as Chinese cities have turned into playgrounds for the nouveau riche and the swelling ranks of the middle class, nearly 500 million people, or about 40 percent of China's population, live on less than $5.50 per day, according to the World Bank." | | Why Team Trump Needs to Sit Down with Iran | | Iran appears to be complying with the nuclear agreement. But ensuring it continues to do so even when the deal's sunset provisions kick in will mean addressing the country's missile program, regional aspirations and a host of other issues, suggests Christopher Hill for Project Syndicate. That will require bilateral talks. It's time for the Trump administration to sit down and talk with Iran.
"One reason why the [agreement] did not cover non-nuclear issues is that several other partners and allies – namely, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union – were involved, and each had its own perspective and objectives. Regional powers with ringside seats to the talks, such as Saudi Arabia, also had plenty to say," Hill says. "Reconciling these actors' conflicting interests and demands concerning the full range of relevant issues would have been next to impossible."
"The U.S. cannot continue to base its policy toward Iran – a huge country with a population of over 80 million, a growing economy, and strong regional influence – on sanctions and vitriol. Likewise, Iran needs to retire poisonous slogans like 'Death to America' and instead work with the US to advance its own interests and aspirations. Perhaps the mountain of mistrust will turn out to be too high for the two countries to scale. But getting to the other side is worth a try."
| | The Future of Tourism Is In… | | Asia is the future of tourism, suggests a new report from the World Travel and Tourism Council, with all of the 10 fastest growing tourism cities located on the continent.
"The data shows that Asian cities are at the forefront of tourism growth over the next ten years," the World Travel and Tourism Council says. "Chongqing (14% growth per year) heads the table, followed by Guangzhou (13.1%), Shanghai (12.8%) and Beijing (12%). The other cities on the top ten list are Chengdu (11.2%), Manila (10.9%), Delhi (10.8%), Shenzhen (10.7%), Kuala Lumpur (10.1%) and Jakarta (10%).
The key to success for China and its neighbors? The burgeoning appetite – and spending power -- for travel among Chinese tourists.
"The success of Chinese cities is largely driven by domestic business (as high as 94.5% of spend in Chongqing is domestic), and the Chinese outbound market is key for neighboring cities such as Tokyo (24% of spend is Chinese, the largest market) and Bangkok (38%)." | | | | | | |
